GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hello.
Have the weirdest thing happening with my daughters base Vibe.
When she gasses up, the gas pump clicks off every couple of seconds. It does it the whole time you are gassing up. I tried pumping slower, or with the nozzle partly out, but nothing. It really sucks for her as she has to stand out in 20 degree weather to do it. It takes about 20 minutes to fill up.
Never seen this before, any ideas?
196000 miles, and the engine light has been on since we bought it. Multiple codes. Already tried the gas cap.
Thanks.

Running codes 440, 442, 446.

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It can be caused by an EVAP issue not venting the gas fumes correctly. The gas pumps use vapor pressure to determine how full your tank is and auto-shutoff when it's at max. I didn't actually know that the EVAP canister actually pulls the fumes in during fillups. The EVAP canister is a huge box behind either the driver's or passenger's rear wheel on the Vibe/Matrix (gen 1, maybe gen 2 as well?). I can't tell you which hose is which, but it may be labeled.

If the back of your car smells like rotten eggs, the EVAP is probably bad. Looks to be a $300 part, so I hope yours is still alright.

What are the refueling habits like? Stop at the first click or try to keep going? The charcoal canister can be damaged when one tries to cram every last drop into the tank. Fuel ends up where only vapor should be... Ends up making it very difficult to refuel once the canister is damaged.

Regarding the rotten egg smell, there for a while Toyotas were notorious for this stench due to catalytic converter issues. Both of our Vibes had their PCM and cats replaced under TSB in the early '00s. I wasn't aware that evap issues could cause the same, that is interesting.

The codes have been there since we owned it. About a year. The gas thing started recently. She is a teen so she never really has the cash to fill it all the way up, she stops it when it clicks. I think it is that canister as well, but it looks like it is easy to take apart. I did that on my GM crew cab and cleaned out the canister.

I had a similar problem with my 2001 Saturn. Wound up being the carbon cannister on top of the gas tank. But it has to be an evaluation issue.

PapaVanTwee wrote:I had a similar problem with my 2001 Saturn. Wound up being the carbon cannister on top of the gas tank. But it has to be an evaluation issue.

Speaking of evaluation, How did you find that the canister was the problem? And do you know what caused the canister to fail? long term storage with a full tank of gas, possibly? The reason I ask is because I have not heard of this before. thanks,

Had this happen last month on my wife's '06 Grand Caravan. No codes, though. I spent 30 minutes filling the tank a squirt at a time and mysteriously the problem was gone by the time she ran through the tank and filled up again. Two tanks later and it's stayed away so far. My best guess was something temperature related (frozen valve at the base of the inlet tube) which worked again when thawed. In our case I'm pretty sure it wasn't the canister or vent tube as it would physically fill up the fill tube and spill out gas if you went too fast, even if you only put the nozzle in halfway to let it vent.

ColonelPanic wrote:I wasn't aware that evap issues could cause the same, that is interesting.

I don't know for sure, but I did read that USA gas tends to be dirtier (higher in sulphur) than Euro/Japanese gas. It was about diesel, but it could be true of "petrol" as well. Maybe the cat gets dirty from the sulphur, as well as the EVAP.

As I said, the gas pump determines when to shut off via vapor pressure. Does she use the same pump every time? It could be THAT pump.

yep, evaporator canister. this is too common on that generation of Corollas. We had this issue on our 2003 Vibe as well.

Chiadog wrote:

PapaVanTwee wrote:I had a similar problem with my 2001 Saturn. Wound up being the carbon cannister on top of the gas tank. But it has to be an evaluation issue.

Speaking of evaluation, How did you find that the canister was the problem? And do you know what caused the canister to fail? long term storage with a full tank of gas, possibly? The reason I ask is because I have not heard of this before. thanks,

I checked the hoses and they weren't clogged. Since they were hooked up to the top of the gas tank, and the canister was there, I surmised that the canister was clogged. Don't know how that happened, as I bought it with that condition.

Thanks for the reply PapaVT !